A little clearer and a lot stronger treatment of the issue from Brother Andre Marie from SBC Richmond, NH link. Still there's a problem with having to rush out with these "what he meant to say" statements. The Vatican was all over the place with clarifications, re-statements, discussions of the masculaine vs feminine German pronouns, other translation issues.

Maybe it was all just Prostitute Ethics 101 ... I'm not cynical, but I know people who are. People were interpreting all this to mean, "condoms for diseased prostitutes okay, but you married people keep having those babies." The cynical keep getting more cynical and these are the people who go to Mass and send their kids to parochial school! Perhaps they, too, are looking for the contraception okay and now feel left out.

My head still hurts though the Brother's article is having an aspirin-like effect on me.

I hate to sound like a know it all but I foresaw the massacre of the Christians in Iraq as early as 2006. Later, news stories ran of huge numbers of them relocating to San Diego, CA. I believe the State Department at the time was expediting their departure, too.

People were leaving everything, their businesses, their homes. As time rolled on, it has become apparent that some Christians could not get out fast enough. One 3 year old, now serves as an innocent martyr.

This is a great article with a tie in with observations from the Pro-Life front.

I have often quipped (but only to myself) that the Tridentine Mass is the wave of the future and that the Novus Ordo Missae is the old timers Mass.

Apparently, this notion is catching on. I think the folk/pop music format that is so prevalent will eventually be seen for what it is .... something sorta rooted in the 1970s/1980s. The Tridentine Mass has that aura of timelessness, there's quiet spaces in the Mass, perfect for the raging cacophony of these times.

My head hurts. That is the only way to describe the situation swirling around the whole Pope Benedict XVI condom use issue. I found recently a lengthy statement that accurately sums up what I'm thinking. More on this later .. here it is: (from the St Joseph's Men Society)

Please allow me to clarify the statement Pope Benedict made about condom use. First the controversy was primarily caused by the Pope himself because he always uses ambigous "new speak" when making statements that should be more precise and clear. For example to pope's answer to a question about the criticism some have expressed about the Church's prohibitin against condoms is as follows: "...There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality."

Translation in normal language: 'I suppose one could make the case that the use of condoms in certain cases could be a sign of moral responsibility. An example might be seen in the case of a homosexual using a condom to prevent infecting his partner with the HIV virus. In other words, the very act of sodomy is a perversion that is a mortal sin, therefore one should not add to the sin of sodomy with the sin of murder. Besides, in this case condom use is not to prevent the conception of children. The deliberate frustration of natural conception is what the Church prohibits.'

The interviewer goes on the ask: "Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?"

The Pope answers in even more vague and confusing terms: "She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality."

Huh? Now understand I have a degree in Philosophy but this existentialist/phenomenological bull crap just doesn't fly when to comes to the precision needed in moral philosophy and theology. So let me translate again:

'Of course the Church does not regard the use of condoms even to prevent AIDS as morally permissible specifically where the conception of children is concerned. However, in cases of sodomy or other illicit sexual actions that do not involve conception it would be better to avoid spreading a life threatening disease. Condom use would be more sexually responsible, more human, for unrepentant homosexuals who have no intention of living chaste lives according to the Gospel and Natural Law.'

Even this post is a tad more charitable than I am feeling right now but it'll do for now.

I'm anticipating the objections of people even to this but more on that later. All posts on this subject I'll label Latex Catholicism. To better express my feelings, I'll say this, Pope Benedict XVI has wrapped himself in a giant latex condom from which he'll never excape.

How sad to see the apostasy continues unabated while our Church leaders betray Christ by defending notions of religious indifferentism. The passion of the Church must occur but woe to those men through whom the betrayal occurs. It were better for them, if they had not been born. Mark 14:21

(Lancashire, England)"A Roman Catholic primary school could become the first in the country to be run by a mosque after a dramatic rise in the number of Muslim pupils, it emerged today.

"Church bosses want to close Sacred Heart RC Primary School, in Blackburn, Lancashire, because the number of Catholic students has plummeted from 91 per cent to just three per cent in a decade.

MK 14:21 And the Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed. It were better for him, if that man had not been born.MK14:21 Et Fílius quidem hóminis vadit sicut scriptum est de eo : væ autem hómini illi per quem Fílius hóminis tradétur ! bonum erat ei, si non esset natus homo ille.

Sometimes these articles come off as jealous and/or angry toward those of the Muslim religion. To me, this is not even provoking alarm. The United Kingdom is lost to Christendom long before the Muslims showed up in any appreciable numbers. This is the fruit of betrayal. Betrayal of tradition, of clear thinking, of a religion and a God that is knowable. I bet the fathers of those Muslim students pray at the Mosque. The fathers of the Roman Catholic students? And even if they did go to Mass. What would be offered? Guitar strumming and homilies about nothing?

Wimpy Protestantism, its step-child athiestic indifferentism or even luke warm Roman Catholicism is no match for Islam. Besides, were the recent arrivals to the U.K. offered any alternatives? Did the school insist on basic instruction with the goal of conversion of these students? Of course not. So, one can draw the scenario to its logical end.

Ireland take note. Embrace modernism, promote abortion, wipe Roman Catholicism from your plate and you'll continue to head the way of England. Not even luke warm religiosity will save you. Ireland, the EU has stolen all your money, next come the longknives. Ireland, pray the Rosary, call on St. Mary, throw yourselves at the foot of Jesus, before it is too late.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

This humble blog is coming up on 5 years and the old format was getting a little tired. I have no HTML skills so the old code was getting a little wonky. I really missed the Real Clear Religion feed and there's all kinds of new features to these new BLOGGER templates.

2010 was a real stinker as far as blogging and I cannot promise anything more than what I wrote in my first post in 2006. About one blog per week is about the most I can handle. Maybe 2011 will feature a bit more.